If you’re confused by the often conflicting results of nutrition studies, help is available, starting Thursday evening.
Registered dietitian Lela Niemetz is presenting two Big Picture Nutrition classes sponsored by Herkimer HealthNet. The first takes place from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Room 295 of the Robert McLaughlin College Center of Herkimer County Community College. The second will be held at the same time and place Thursday, Nov. 1.
“I want to talk about navigating through all the trendy nutrition that is tricking and confusing people,” said Niemetz, a registered dietitian and owner of nutrition company FoodFeasible, talking about the first class. “I want to provide some guidance on how to eat in a healthy way in today’s world without fixating on it. I think it’s about eating to support your life. Eating shouldn’t run your life.”
Niemetz said she’ll also talk about labels and buzz words and how they can be misleading or even false.
“I’d like to talk more about intuitive eating or introduce that as a way through all of this,” she said.
The second class will get into meal planning and budgeting and applying what you’ve learned to your life, she said. It will include a demonstration, perhaps a whole chicken being broken down into three meals.
People of all ages make nutrition choices daily and seem to be struggling with how they’re supposed to be eating, Niemetz said.
“You’re reading the same labels and you’re trying to make sense of all that. And we all have access to the internet right now. I think that for some reason, we’ve reduced food to numbers and that’s where people get really lost,” Niemetz said.
But nutrition isn’t just about calories and serving sizes; it’s also about the quality of food and diversity in the diet, she said. Niemetz also talked about the importance of food in socialization and celebration, and said she’s afraid people are losing sight of the important role food plays in our culture.
Niemetz offered some advice for those who can’t make it to her class: “Maintaining diversity in your lifestyle so that can include your nutrition and that can include your physical activities, your exercises. That can include the ways that you socialize, all aspects of your lifestyle. We need to maintain diversity.”
Reservations are requested, but not required for the classes. Call Herkimer HealthNet at 315-867-1552 or email Elyse Enea at eenea@herkimercounty.org.